Nature perception and positive emotions in urban forest parks enhance subjective well-being

With the acceleration of urbanization around the world, city dwellers face increasing levels of work stress and mental health issues, which negatively impact their subjective well-being. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of natural environment on residents' mental recovery and subjective well-being in urban forest parks, and to analyze the relationship between natural environment perception, mental recovery, restorative environment perception and subjective well-being. Through a questionnaire survey conducted in a botanical garden in Hunan Province, 504 valid samples were collected. Through structural equation model (SEM) analysis, the results show that: (1) natural environment perception has significant positive effects on mental recovery and restorative environment perception. (2) Mental recovery as an intermediary variable significantly improved residents' subjective well-being. In addition, individual demographic characteristics, such as gender, education level, occupation, and frequency of visits, are closely related to the perception and subjective well-being of the natural environment. Among them, the increase of the frequency of visit has a significant positive effect on the improvement of individual's natural environment perception, restorative environment perception, subjective well-being and mental recovery. The results show that: (1) Urban planners should improve the accessibility of urban forest parks and integrate restorative elements into the design. (2) Encourage residents to visit frequently to improve mental recovery and subjective well-being. The results of this study provide empirical support for the value of urban forest parks in promoting public mental recovery and subjective well-being, and provide scientific basis for urban planning and green space management.